Meet the Pioneers Earning as They Learn: Sarah Ebockayuk

06 March 2017 -

It’s not every day you bump into BBC Radio 1 DJs and get tickets to Strictly Come Dancing. For Sarah Ebockayuk, these are perks of working as a production team assistant at the BBC

At the age of 23, and having worked in various marketing and advertising roles since her A-levels, Sarah Ebockayuk was keen to pursue a career in business management. That’s when she came across the two-year CMDA.

The prospect of gaining a degree from Pearson Business School, Chartered Manager status and, in this instance, paid experience at the BBC was too good to resist.

Currently on a four-month placement in the creative department at the BBC, Ebockayuk’s daily responsibilities are enviable: helping to create trails for BBC One shows The Missing and Ordinary Lies, assisting on editing and audio sessions, managing administration and checking over creative content.

“I even get to see bits of dramas before everyone else does.” Her next four month placement is in the BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra marketing departments, and Ebockayuk can’t wait to start.

“I was standing in Radio 1 the other day and I saw Greg James and all these famous people walking about – it’s so weird!”

Ebockayuk works four days a week at the BBC and once a week at university, so “finding a routine that suits me is important”.

In her spare time, she is a music editor for the online magazine GIGsoup. The communications skills she’s gained there have been invaluable for her degree apprenticeship.

“It’s given me the confidence to speak to many different types of people.”

Ebockayuk hopes to remain at the BBC and create schemes to encourage emerging artists, local communities and young people into the organisation.

“It’s something that the BBC does already, but it would be great to see them go further.”

Find out more about the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship